Case or Other Portable Container With at Least One Electric Power Supply and Storage Unit Which can be Recharged Using Solar Energy or Other Energy Sources, Useful for Providing Electric Power During Open-Air Activities or for Other Uses

ABSTRACT

Case or other portable container with an electric power supply and storage unit which can be recharged using solar energy or other energy sources, useful for providing electric power during open-air activities or for other uses, of the type which comprises a case or other preferably rigid or semi-rigid container ( 1 ), with the base body ( 101 ) and the lid ( 201 ) designed internally to house at least one solar panel and at least one electric power supply and storage unit ( 6 ) which can be recharged by means of said solar panel and which is provided with sockets so as to be able to supply electric user applications, characterized in that several solar panels ( 4 ) which can be folded in book form and wallet form are housed inside the said case ( 1 ) so that in the folded position the panels occupy an extremely small amount of space and in the open position the panels have a much larger exposed area, all of which being envisaged so that, also owing to the fact that more than one of the solar panels ( 4 ) is available, it is possible to reduce substantially the recharging time of the supply and storage unit ( 6 ) and this unit may be used with a capacity such as to ensure good autonomy and safe operation thereof.

The invention relates to a case or other portable container, containingat least one electric power supply and storage unit with a high capacityand therefore sufficient autonomy, designed to be recharged using solarpanels or other energy sources and in particular suitable for providingelectric power during open-air activities, for example for poweringlamps, a television, a computer or other low-power user applications.

By way of prior art the following patent application publications arecited: CN 2251803 dated Sep. 4, 1997 (Portable solar energy electricalequipment combined box with warning circuit); US 2008/0210289 dated Apr.9, 2008 (Portable solar power source); WO 2009/045542 dated Sep. 4, 2009(Electrical power source), to which ample reference is made. All thesedocuments show that it is currently known to combine with a case or arucksack solar panels and a high-capacity electric power supply andstorage unit which can be recharged by means of the said solar panels orusing other energy sources in order to provide electric power forvarious uses during open-air activities. These known apparatus are,however, characterized by the long time needed to recharge them via thesolar panels since the latter have a limited exposure area owing to acombined arrangement which is structurally dependent on a part of thesurface of the case or rucksack and therefore is conditioned by thedimensions of the case itself.

The invention intends to overcome these and other limitations of theprior art with a portable device as per the accompanying claim 1, thecharacteristic features and the advantages of which will become clearfrom the following description provided with reference to the twoaccompanying sets of drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of the case open with inside the variouscomponents;

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of the case open as in FIG. 1, emptiedof the various components, except for a lamp holder;

FIG. 3 shows, in an extended position ready for use, one of the solarpanels housed inside the case;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a power supply adapter for rechargingthe supply and storage unit using the normal electricity mains;

FIG. 5 shows one of the lamp holders with associated lamp, housed insidethe case;

FIG. 6 shows the supply and storage unit extracted from its housing seatinside the case and resting on the case.

From FIGS. 1 and 2 it can be seen that the invention envisages the useof any suitable portable container, for example a rigid or semi-rigidcase 1, for example of the standard type currently used to containworking equipment, where the base body 101 and the lid 201 have, housedand fixed therein, for example by means of glue, internal padding 2 and102 which consist of sufficiently elastically yielding soft material andwhich contain seats for housing and protecting the various components ofthe device in question. In particular, the padding 2 of the base 101 ofthe case has three parallelepiped-shaped seats, the biggest seat 3 ofwhich is designed to contain two or more, for example three photovoltaicpanels 4 (see below), while the medium-sized seat 5 is designed tocontain a supply and storage unit 6 (see below) and the smallest seat 7is designed to contain a power supply adapter 8 of the type shown forexample in FIG. 4, which allows rapid recharging (for example in 3 to 4hours) of the said supply and storage unit 6 via the normal electricitymains, for example at 220 V.

Pairs of straps 9 and 109, for example with closures of the Velcro orother suitable type, close the compartments 3, 5 and 7 in order toretain the associated aforementioned components inside them.

The photovoltaic panels 4 are of the flexible and folding type and arelocated inside the four pockets of a flexible containing structure 104made of flexible and transparent material on the active side of thesolar panels and opaque material, for example fabric, on the oppositeside, all of which in such a way that this structure may be folded ontoitself in book form and wallet form, for example in accordance with thesequence indicated in FIG. 3 by the arrows F1 and F2, so as to form acompact structure which has the size of one of the four pockets of thestructure 104 and which may be housed flat inside the compartment 3 ofthe case 1, together with other two panels 4 of the same type. A flap204 is hinged on the outer short side of one of the pockets of thestructure 104 and accommodates the bundle of bipolar electric wire 304with quick-action connector for connecting the solar panel to the supplyand storage unit 6 (see below) and the said flap 204 may be closed usingVelcro inserts or other suitable rapid-action means, on a correspondingportion of the rear opaque part of the structure 104 so as to keep thepanel 4 in the compact and stowed-away position inside the compartment3. It is clear from FIG. 3 how, owing to the presence of threephotovoltaic panels 4 with a large surface area, the time needed torecharge the supply and storage unit 6 may be very short, for examplevarying from 4 to 8 hours, depending on the amount of sunshineavailable. By providing several photovoltaic panels 4 it is possible toensure that at least one of these solar recharging means is availableeven in the event of failure of the remaining ones.

The supply and storage unit 6 shown in FIG. 6 comprises a set of thelatest generation batteries, for example lithium ion batteries, with ahigh capacity, for example in the region of about 25 Ah. The unit 6 istherefore formed by a parallelepiped-shaped metal container 106 withdimensions suitable for being housed inside said compartment 5 andsuitably designed to contain safely the said electric batteries anddissipate the heat produced by them during charging and discharging andthis container is preferably equipped with shoulder straps 10 which havespring-catch or other types of fasteners, suitable for handling,transporting and hanging the unit 6 from any suitable support means,also of an improvised nature. The following are present on the frontside of the unit 6: three input sockets 11 for connection to the threesolar panels 4 according to FIG. 3 or to the output of the power supplyadapter 8 shown in FIG. 4; three sockets 12 for connection tocorresponding user applications for example operating at 12 V dc andwith a power of not more than 25 W; at least one socket 13 of thevehicle cigarette lighter type for allowing connection thereto of anyuser application designed for such a connection and for example alsooperating at 12 V dc and with a power of not more than 25 W; an ON/OFFpushbutton or switch 14; a fuse-holder cartridge 15; a lamp 16 whichindicates when the apparatus is in operation and further differentlycoloured lamps 17 and 117 for indicating when the unit 6 is rechargingand when it has completed charging. From FIGS. 1, 2 and 6 it can be seenthat the padding 102 of the lid 201 of the case has three seats 18 whichare for example horizontal and which are able to house correspondinglamp holders 19 with an associated lamp, for example of the fluorescentlow-consumption type or other suitable type, for example comprisingLEDs, and the same lamp holders are held in position by pairs of straps20 with a Velcro or other type of closure. In FIG. 1, 21 denotes thebundle of cables with quick-action connectors at their ends, useful forconnecting the lamp holders 19 to the corresponding outputs 12 of theunit 6 according to FIG. 6. From the detail in FIG. 5 it can be seenthat the lamp holders 19 may also be advantageously provided with atleast one shoulder strap 22 with spring-catch or other types offasteners, useful for facilitating handling, transport and hanging ofthe said lamp holder from any support structure.

In FIGS. 1, 2 and 6, 23 denotes small lateral and vertical recesses inthe seats 3 and 5, which are useful for facilitating extraction of theunits housed in them and also for ensuring free circulation of air whenthese seats are occupied or empty.

1. Case or other portable container, with at least one electric powersupply and storage unit which can be recharged using solar energy orother energy sources, useful for providing electric power duringopen-air activities or for other uses, of the type which comprises apreferably rigid or semi-rigid case (1) or other suitable container,with the base body (101) and the lid (201) designed internally to houseat least one solar panel and at least one electric power supply andstorage unit (6) which can be recharged by means of said solar panel andis provided with sockets for being able to power electrical userapplications, characterized in that said case or container (1) housesinternally several solar panels (4) which can be folded in order toreduce the space occupied so that in the folded position the said panelsoccupy an extremely small amount of space and may be easily housedinside the said container (1) and in the open position the said panelshave a very large exposed area, all of which being envisaged such that,also owing to the fact that more than one of said solar panels (4) isavailable, it is possible to reduce substantially the recharging time ofsaid supply and storage unit (6) and this unit may be used with acapacity such as to ensure good autonomy and safe operation thereof. 2.Case according to claim 1, wherein each solar panel (4) can be foldedboth in book form and in wallet form and is provided on the perimeterwith a flap (204) accommodating in bundle form the cable (304) forconnection to the supply and storage unit and this flap being providedwith Velcro inserts or other suitable means so that it can be fixedrapidly and removably to a rear part of the structure (104) of the panel(4) when folded, so as to keep the said solar panel (4) in the closedand reduced-volume position.
 3. Case according to the claim 1, whereinthe solar panels (4) of the aforementioned type, for example three ofthese panels (4) may be stacked and stowed away inside a housing seat(3) provided for example in an internal padding (2) of the bottom body(101) of the said case (1) and straps (9) preferably with a Velcro orother type of closure are provided for keeping the solar panels (4)inside said seat.
 4. Case according to claim 3, wherein a seat (5) forhousing the supply and storage unit (6) and a seat (7) for housing aunit (8) for rapidly recharging said supply and storage unit via theelectricity mains are provided alongside the said seat (3) for housingthe solar panels (4), there being provided straps (109) preferably witha Velcro or other type of closure for keeping these units (6, 8) insidethe respective housing seats (5, 7).
 5. Case according to claim 1,wherein the supply and storage unit (6) is provided with shoulder straps(10) with spring-catch or other types of fasteners, useful for handling,transporting and hanging this unit (6) from any suitable support means,also of an improvised nature.
 6. Case according to claim 1, wherein thesupply and storage unit (6) is provided on at least one wall: withseveral input sockets (11) for connection to the solar panels (4) or tothe output of the rapid power supply adapter (8); with several sockets(12) for connection to corresponding user applications; with at leastone socket (13) of the vehicle cigarette lighter type, for allowing theconnection thereto of any user application designed for such aconnection; an ON/OFF pushbutton or switch (14); a fuse-holder cartridge(15); a lamp (16) which indicates when the apparatus is in operation andfurther differently coloured lamps (17, 117) for indicating when thesupply and storage unit (6) is recharging and when it has completedcharging.
 7. Case according to claim 1, wherein an internal padding(102) of the lid (201) of the said case or container (1) has seats (18)for housing corresponding lamp holders with lamp (19) which are kept inposition by pairs of straps (20) with a Velcro or other suitable type ofclosure.
 8. Case according to claim 7, wherein the lamp holder with lamp(19) may be provided with at least one shoulder strap (22) withspring-catch or other types of fasteners, useful for facilitatinghandling, transport and hanging of the said lamp holder from any supportstructure.